Cable/broadband, telecom, wireless, and satellite industries connect a variety of electrical components, e.g., antennas, amplifiers, diplexers, surge arrestors, with transmission lines, and connectors, to form systems that transmit alternating current electrical signals that can be arranged in an analog and/or digital format. One measure of the success of these systems is the efficiency with which the electrical signals are transmitted amongst these components. Engineers, designers, and technicians in these industries, however, are aware that the level of transmission efficiency that is attained is dependent, in part, on the physical properties of the components that are used in their construction.
Characteristic impedance is one of these properties. More particularly, differences in the characteristic impedance of the components that are connected together can cause problems that affect the transmission efficiency. For example, in a system that includes an antenna, an amplifier, and a transmission line, the differences in the characteristic impedance of the antenna, the amplifier, and the transmission line can cause a portion of the electrical signal transmitted from the amplifier to the antenna to reflect back to the amplifier. This, in turn, can cause standing wave patterns to form in the transmission line when the electrical signal transmitted from the amplifier to the antenna reacts with the electrical signal reflected from the antenna to the amplifier.
Impedance matching is one way to alleviate some of these problems. The goal is to create a system that has a substantially uniform characteristic impedance, which for many systems of the type disclosed and contemplated herein is nominally about 50 ohm, 75 ohm or 90 ohm. Characteristic impedance values that are exhibited by each of the transmission lines and the connectors are determined by a variety of factors, such as, for example, the geometry of the transmission line, the geometry of the connector structure, and the corresponding dielectric material between the conductors. Similarly, the value of characteristic impedance for the connector can be calculated according to the Equation 1 below,Z=√{square root over (Z1×Z2)},  Equation (1)where Z is the characteristic impedance of the connector, and Z1 and Z2 are the values of characteristic impedance for various components in the system. Accordingly, creating a system having substantially uniform characteristic impedance includes matching the characteristic impedance values of the transmission lines, e.g., coaxial cable, and the connectors that electrically couple the conductors of the transmission lines with other transmission lines, and with the electrical components.
Unfortunately, although mismatches in the characteristic impedance of the transmission lines and the connectors can degrade the quality of the electronic signal, these mismatches are essentially inevitable. In fact, constraints on cost, manufacturing tolerances, and material selection, among other limitations, cause many connectors that are presently available to exacerbate the problem. Despite these issues, efforts that are directed to better balance the value of characteristic impedance of the components, transmission lines, and in particular the connectors, throughout the system have thus far been unsatisfactory, or have resulted in rigid solutions with limited application in systems utilizing higher frequency regimes.
Therefore, a connector is needed that can facilitate impedance balancing amongst the electrical components in these systems, and more particularly, that can help balance the mismatches in high frequency systems so as to improve signal transmission. It is likewise desirable that, in addition to being configured to support a range of values of characteristic impedance, this connector is robust enough so that it can be implemented in a variety of systems and applications.